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Why Do We Do This? My Answer to Glenn Beck

At BlogCon in Dallas, many of us had the unique opportunity of being in the studio audience for two tapings of the Glenn Beck show at TheBlaze Studios. During a panel discussion on the harassment and intimidation faced by conservative bloggers, Glenn challenged us.

First, he asked how many of us faced intimidation and threats or worried about our personal safety. Most of the hands went up, including mine. Then he asked us why we continue to do what we do. While I got an opportunity to describe the death threats I've received, I didn't get a chance to really answer the question.

It can be really hard to do what we do. I've received many death threats over the years, and what I've faced pales in comparison to what some of my blogger friends have endured. And when you have the Eye of Sauron on you because you've done something to attract the attention of the leftist collective, you can be subjected to coordinated smear campaigns that you never dreamed possible. It can be intimidating, and it can scare you into quitting.

So why go on? Why keep pressing forward, knowing that the more effective you can be at exposing the truth, the worse it will get? There are several reasons:

A. I have a visceral reaction to someone who peddles BS as a way of life.

I was completely uninvolved in politics until the Tea Party movement started in 2009. I can't stand politicians. And the more I get involved as county party chair, tea party organizer, blogger and new media consultant, the more I'm exposed to how sleazy they all are. But every time I discover someone who lies, cheats, harasses, or abuses their position, I feel like it's my duty to expose that. We citizens deserve to know who's worthy of our vote and trust, and who isn't.

B. I have two kids who are going to grow up in a vastly different America than I did, if I don't do something.

My heart weeps for what my children will face in their adulthood when attempting to access health care under Obamacare. I know based on historical precedent that their job prospects will be severely altered because of the immoral amount of debt being added every day, which will hamper the economy for decades. I can't imagine how few liberties they'll be able to enjoy because of a runaway government that is growing at an unchecked rate. I can't sit idly by and just let this happen.

C. It can be a helluva lot of fun.

Every single time they target you or you uncover yet another lie or sleazy backroom deal, you get the opportunity to use the controversy that it stirs up to make your point. We all know the legacy media isn't going to report our stories, even when we beat them over the head with them. So when you have that moment of opportunity where you're in the perfect point in time to make the news as you are reporting it, use it. When the media folks fail to notice, call them out. When they report it properly, give them kudos. And always, always, ALWAYS know that you have the truth and the facts on your side - armed thusly, you cannot fail. Even when you're targeted with an op/ed campaign, that's another opportunity. Your points will get across. Use their hatred of the truth against them. Always be willing to give a quote to reporters you know are against you, because whatever they may say about you in their column, they look like the petty little tyrants if they dare to misquote you. If they don't misquote you, you've done your job by getting the point across - not to the reporter, but to his or her audience. Every time they lash out, use the occasion to punch back with the truth. It always wins, eventually.

So yes, I am strongly motivated to keep moving forward and to keep uncovering the truth that the statists constantly seek to bury. Somebody has to...

WHAT: FreedomWorks and Glenn Beck will host a live, interactive night of action against Common Core in local theaters across the nation. “We Will Not Conform” is not an event- it’s a strategy session. Viewers will act as participants, engaging with education experts to craft a comprehensive plan to defeat Common Core in real-time.

Although few now dispute that the American education system is hopelessly broken, the reasons for this, as well as what we should do about, remain the subject of much disagreement. On one side, there are the regulators who argue that all of the problems with education can be explained by rules that are too loose. In the view of the bureaucrats at the Department of Education, a lack of stringent enough standards are all that ails American schools.

WHAT: FreedomWorks and Glenn Beck will host a live, interactive night of action against Common Core in local theaters across the nation. “We Will Not Conform” is not an event- it’s a strategy session. Viewers will act as participants, engaging with education experts to craft a comprehensive plan to defeat Common Core in real-time.

As the blogosphere expands, diversifies and matures, many folks in the conservative blogging world are tempted to say that the mainstream, legacy, alphabet network media has become obsolete. Bloggers seemingly break more news, do more investigative journalism, produce high quality audio and video, and fill a void that newspapers are no longer able to fill. As ad revenue has shrunk, reporting staffs at newspapers across the nation have been slashed, and circulation is shrinking. All while consumers have an ever growing appetite for news, amplified by the instant access of social media. It is tempting to view this landscape and smugly conclude that we bloggers are the wave of the future, and it's only a matter of time until the MSM is little more than a memory.

In an intersection of well intended laws and unintended consequences, Oregon's Government Ethics Commission has created a debate about what constitutes a real journalist. Once again, we're debating who is a real journalist, and who is not. The result of this determination could have much greater impact than anyone realizes.
According to a report in The Oregonian (allegedly a real newspaper),

Maybe, maybe not.
U.S. House of Representatives Republicans will unveil a 10-year budget blueprint in the next few weeks that will champion fiscal austerity, a theme party leaders hope will energize conservative voters ahead of the November congressional elections.

The Hills Are Alive ...The Twitterverse was alive on Sunday night with the reverberations from the news that the loathsome Piers Morgan will be taking his anti-freedom talents back to England. Morgan was famous for two things: railing against the American concept of constitutional liberty, and tanking ratings. The wonder is not that his show is being canceled, nor that his ratings cratered. The only wonder is that it took so long for this decision to be made.

Not long ago, I was wandering around the FreedomWorks site, searching for inspiration for a new article. I read a few posts from my fine fellow-writers, spent a bit of time poking around FreedomConnector to see how other folks were using that resource, and then a tiny link on my FC dashboard page caught my attention. It said, "University"

Imagine a press conference; any one will do. Behind the bank of microphones stands Generic Q. Politician, who spends 30 solid minutes filling your ears with bureaucratic jargon and political mush. When he's done, you don't know any more about the issue he spoke about than you did when he started, but you're certain of his position. Maybe.